Dystopian
by Galactose
Summary: In this...apocrypha Momo is an orphan left wandering around a Post apocalyptic dystopia [AU] where 99% of human life is gone and in the cites clans and groups band together to fight for survival. She is saved from a gristly death by members of the 'Ice Empire' and taken to their base where she meets their leader a cold but charming young male called Toshiro. Some adult themes...
1. Chapter 1:The End

"_The point is, there is no feasible excuse for what are, for what we have made of ourselves. We have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality, dividends before decency, fanaticism before fairness, and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others"_

_-Iain Banks_

Stumbling over yet another piece of debris from the ruined and destroyed houses Momo shivered. The memories of what had happened the previous night haunted her profusely; for sixteen years her mother had looked after her, nurtured her and loved her in the basement of a burnt out farmhouse but that all changed last night. Bandits came like a roaring tsunami of hatred, spite and depravity. Just before they broke in her mother told her to run whilst she held them off, the screams and pained wails of her only family echoed through the night sky as she ran. She didn't stop running not until her lungs burned, her legs ached and head throbbed.

Eventually she'd come to this city. The husks of houses made the bleak overcast sky look more menacing; it rarely rained but always threatened to. Momo knew very little about why the world was like this. Her mother called it 'Nuclear War'; it supposedly explained why a lot of people outside didn't look like her. She was quite small with normally cheerful hazel eyes and brunette hair, her face was rarely tainted by acne or any kind of skin problems though it did tend to get a bit dirty.

The further she got into the city the more she became nervous, she felt like there was something following her, only caching glimpses from the corner of her eye, something wearing a cape. Her mother had told her about the 'Mutants' out there, possessing strength beyond belief, speed that couldn't be matched and a bloodlust that was unquenchable, they were nicknamed Hollows due to their hollowed out humanity…apparently.

The large skyscrapers either lay in piles of steel, glass and stone on the ground or stood tall with large chunks of their frames blown off some even looked like they were due falling over. She stumbled past one such building, it wasn't as tall as the rest but it looked sturdier, a large stone structure rather than the gimmicky glass and steel ones around it. Roughly two thirds up the building a plane rather comically stuck out the side of it. It, however, didn't seem in danger of falling off someone had built around it with steel girders and poles, securing it thoroughly in place. Momo stared curiously at it. Her mother had told her adamantly that she should NEVER go into the cities and maybe she was right, someone had built this after the war.

Momo had been too busy staring that she hadn't noticed the cloaked figure break away from the midday shadows and stalk toward her. Abnormally long arms and legs protruded from its cloak as it walked toward her not unlike a mantis. She turned at the last second to see it jump toward her. Fear and shock pulsed through her nerves rooting her to the spot; the creature whipped her off her feet with a swipe of those long four jointed legs. The pain that seared through her elbow as she crashed to the ground broke her from her stupor and she let out a scream of terror as it descended toward her grabbing with its hand.

She rolled nimbly out of the way and scrambled to her feet. She couldn't die now; she'd only just got away from the last threat. With that tiny amount of determination she turned and ran, sprinted as fast as her tired legs would carry her. Her breaths and pants came out more like wheezes as she leaped over a yellow car labelled 'NYC Taxi'. Sparing a glance over her shoulder she let out another squeal when she realised the creature was practically breathing down her neck.

She saw another car and used a plank of wood that was sitting on two brick as a springboard to vault the vehicle, unfortunately the plank snapped and she slammed her face on the car's door and raked her shin on the bumper. Blood poured from the skinned shin and she was saved from unconsciousness by the burning pain. Her eyes widened as the creature loomed over her again, this time it took its sadistic time, it knew she couldn't escape and so did she.

Its hand moved toward her and she screw her eyes shut hoping it'd give her a quick death, she quickly went to say her goodbyes to the world but stopped when she realised there was nothing to bid farewell to. She lay with her eyes screwed shut for at least thirty seconds before she noticed the creature hadn't touched her.

"How long do you think she's gonna lie there, Chad?" a soft female voice said. Momo opened her eyes to see two regular looking people looking down at her. One was a chesty autumn haired girl with brown eyes. The other was a very large male with shaggy hair and dark skin.

"Where did the…"

"Died" the male said

"How?" Momo said sitting up and then gasping when she saw the beast in two pieces.

"Chad killed him, silly" the girl giggled

"Oh" Momo said rubbing her head. She stood up and looked between them, what was their game? Were they going to eat her like that thing was trying to do? She strongly doubted it, her mother had always said she had a good sense of people and these guys didn't' seem particularly evil.

"So what clan do you hail from?" the ginger said breaking the silence

"Clan?"  
"Yeah" she said "there are about thirty in this city, The Brooklyn Rats, Flying Pigs, Ice Empire, ring any bells?"

"I-Ice Empire?"

"Yeah" she laughed absentmindedly "that's us"

"I come from…" Momo paused and swallowed the bitter taste of sadness "outside the city"  
"I see" she said "my name is Orihime and this is Chad, he's not much of a conversationalist but that's okay 'cause I talk for the entire Empire according to Ichigo"

"Who's that?"

"Second in command"

"Command?" Momo said

"Never mind the explanations now" Orihime smiled "how about you come back to base with us since… that Hollow has friends in high places"

"How does a beast like that make friends?" Momo asked

"The Espada" Orihime said with a slight frown "another clan that…makes trouble, they make Hollows do their bidding and they…feed them"  
"Feed them?" Momo said. She didn't like the sound of that!

"Yes" Chad said "it's exactly as it sounds"

Momo followed them as they walked, she was curious as to how they managed to kill that Hollow, it looked as if it had been ripped in half, was that big guy a Mutant? A Hollow? "Chad here has what is called a fullbring" Orihime said almost as if she read her mind "he's partially mutated but luckily he's on the right side of partial"

"I don't like to talk about it much" he said. Momo noticed they were heading toward the stone building again.

"We live in that stone building; it's called the Empire State Building, that's where we get our name from not some farfetched pretentiousness"

"How many members of your group are there?" Momo asked curiously

"In the building maybe ten to twelve live but all together we've got about thirty members dotted around the city" Orihime said. Momo's eyes widened, thirty people was a lot, she'd never, in all her sixteen years, met thirty people in fact Orihime and Chad were the seventh and eight people she'd learnt the names of.

Now that she was closer Momo couldn't help but notice the building ominously creaked and groaned, was this place stable? She decided to throw caution to the wind and follow Chad and Orihime inside. The front entrance was blocked by a bus and a tank mangled together in an amalgam of metal and glass. They walked through a small gap in the mangled metal. A large metal door blocked their way in though. Orihime knocked three times and pulled a metal triangle from her bag and stuck it four times with a little metal stick. The door banged and slid open; a young boy stared at them and then went wide eyed when he saw Momo. "T-Toshiro said no more members!" he fumbled

"I don't think he meant it" Orihime said "more like 'we've got a lot of members, chose the next one wisely'" Orihime said doing a rather icy impression of someone.

"Y-you think?" the boy stammered. He wasn't particularly spectacular to look at but he wasn't very unpleasant either.

"Of course, Hanataro, when have I ever been wrong?"

"When you brought that cat home and it bit Toshiro and he threw it into the Loch"

"What's that?" Momo asked

"Back when the bombs fell they cracked the earth's surface" Orihime explained "underneath this building is a section of subway that has a lake of lava at one side, we've got it all to ourselves down there so we usually go down in winter for heat"

"We aren't allowed to stay too long because of the gasses and stuff" Chad added.

"Come in" Orihime said zestfully brushing past the waify boy much to his stuttering protest. Momo followed flashing an apologetic smile at the boy who by now was working himself up into a mild frenzy.

Momo looked around the lobby of the building. It was heavily vandalised and spray-painted. One such painting was a stick figure with spikey hair and above it said 'I'm Toshiro and I like Ice, men and coitus…with men'. She smirked slightly; this Toshiro seemed to be at the butt of the jokes around this area.

"So who is your leader?" Momo asked

"Toshiro" Orihime said fleetingly pointing at the stick figure. She pushed a button that was beside two steel doors. It pinged and Momo stared…what was it? "Never seen electricity?"

"I have but…I don't know what this is"

"It's an elevator" Orihime said "It'll take us past the ruined floors and up into the safety of the Boeing"

"How do you have electricity?"

"Geothermal power" Orihime explained "Toshiro is our leader for a reason, he's a genius. He managed to use the lava on the basement to power the entire building!"

The Elevator pinged again and the doors slid open to reveal a small room Chad and Orihime entered it tentatively followed by Momo. "Toshiro isn't here right now, neither are Ichigo and Soifon"  
"Where are they?" Momo said

"Hunt" Chad said

"Hunt?" Momo echoed

"Yes" Orihime said "little Hanataro back there was attacked by a rouge a few days ago who…took advantage of him, Toshiro takes any violence against his clan mates very seriously and he's on a revenge mission"

"What'll happen to the rogue?" Momo asked

"If he's taken alive he'll likely get a dip in the Loch" Orihime said "he's with Soifon who happens to be quite the sadist, she'll likely only burn his legs off and leave him out in the wild somewhere"

"Hopefully it won't be like last time" Chad said

"That had happened before?" Momo asked

"Yeah…Hanataro is strangely popular with the men of this city, poor guy isn't even allowed outside anymore" Orihime said as the doors closed. Momo grabbed hold of the hand rail as the elevator began to rise "Soifon caught that guy on her own…she shoved a burning rock right up his…" Orihime shook her head and seemed like she was going to throw up, even Chad had went slightly pale. "The guy died of a heart attack due to the pain and trauma to his…butt" Momo blanched, maybe she was wrong about these guys, maybe they were maniacs like the rest. She definitely didn't want to run into this 'Soifon' in a darkened alley, she must be quite the sadist…or really cared about that Hanataro boy.

Eventually/thankfully the elevator stopped and with another ping the doors opened. Two people sat prodding at a fire in an oil drum one was a woman and the other was a rather ugly man. She wondered who had the bigger breasts Orihime or the scantily clad woman there. She grinned and stood up, "so you brought us a meal?" she chuckled

"Not today, Kukaku" Orihime said "she got attacked by a Hollow"  
"What clan is she, I know she can't be Espada 'cause you wouldn't be helping her"  
"She doesn't have a clan" Orihime explained "she's wild"

"I bet she is" Kukaku said eyeing her up and down. Momo noticed she was missing an arm, curiosity bubbled away inside her.

"What happened to your arm?" Momo said

"Lost it" Kukaku said

"Lost it?" the other guy said "it ain't a set of freekin car keys you know"

"Yeah" Kukaku laughed "I was smacking your stupid face and it fell off because it couldn't bear touching something so damn ugly, I demand to see your birth certificate I don't think we're related"

"Best just to leave them to it" Orihime said as the black haired woman started hitting the man who wailed desperately.

The upper floors were very much changed into living spaces, this building seemed to have held offices but the main office floor had been cleared out and decorated with shelves holding seemingly pointless items there were rugs and carpets laid out over the stone floor and sofas, chairs, TV's and little barrels with fires in them dotted around. All of the windows were boarded up. There were doors around too all of them labelled, one was labelled 'Yuzu' another 'Karin' the final one on this floor was labelled 'Daddy' which was rather childish but Momo didn't complain.  
"Where do you sleep?" Momo asked

"Upstairs" Orihime said "Also the Boeing is there"  
"What's that for?"

"It's basically a lookout, our sniper often sits up there and picks off any dangerous looking Hollows mucking around"

"So you have guns?"

"Some" Orihime said "Toshiro said to keep the use of the sniper bullets to a bare minimum despite still having nearly four thousand of them lying up there.

"That's a lot" Momo said

"Yeah" Orihime said "we got lucky, that Boeing that's there happened to be transporting a ton of guns for the army"

"How come it wasn't destroyed?" Momo asked following her up the stairs

"It was…put there" Orihime said "apparently there was a mutant that was absolutely massive and it picked up that jet and just stabbed it into the side of the building"

They reached the next floor and Orihime opened the door to reveal a shabbily built wall that was comprised of dismantled desks nailed together, bits of plane, plywood and plaster. On occasional intervals there were doors all of them labelled too. Soifon, Ichigo, Matsumoto, Kukaku, Ganju, Chad, Orihime, Hanataro and Ishida. There was a few doors that didn't have any names on them. "Where does the leader sleep?" Momo asked

"You sure like to ask questions" Orihime said "he sleeps in there" she pointed at a door labelled 'Executive' and underneath 'Toshiro' was scrawled.

A woman strolled out of the door labelled Matsumoto yawning and ruffling her thick strawberry blonde hair. She stopped and stared between Chad, Orihime and Momo, she shrugged and walked past. "When are Toshiro and the others due back?" Orihime asked

"Dunno" She said shrugging.

"They've just returned" a bespectacled boy said coming out of the final door which was marked 'Boeing'.

"You saw them?" Orihime said "oh by the way this is Momo- Momo this is Ishida and Matsumoto"  
"She seems…edible" Matsumoto said

"Kukaku already did that joke" Chad said

"Dammit" Matsumoto said "I get to use it so rarely"

"You can sleep in that room there" Orihime said pointing to the blank door that sat between Soifon and Ichigo. "Go explore whilst we speak to Toshiro"

"Uh, okay" Momo said. She hoped she wasn't getting anyone into trouble, this Toshiro seemed to be quite a stern leader but no one seemed to listen to him, she was quite confused. Everyone disappeared through the door leaving Momo to open the door and look around. The room was a nice size, a desk; a bed and a set of steel shelves were the only things that decorated the room. The bed was a high quality mattress on a wooden frame. The duvet and pillows were also good quality. Her mother had explained that in a Dystopian society where humans were all but snuffed out in a single night there wasn't much looting and pilfering thus leaving a lot of goodies in the shops waiting to be pinched these guys had obviously got their hands on the contents of a furniture shop of some kind.

The walls seemed secure enough inside, not many holes allowing her to see into Soifon or Ichigo's rooms… she did peer through the biggest hole that led into Soifon's room. It was sparsely decorated, the bed was a mess and DVD's and CDs littered the floor. Momo enviously noted she had a TV and a games console too.

Content with her snoop she stood up and walked out her room… straight into someone who huffed angrily. When she noticed Momo she narrowed her eyes "who the hell are you?" she said her Chinese feature contorting into a scowl.

"Uh…I'm Momo" she said

"That's a sound cows make" she said but shrugged and walked past and slid a key into the door marked Soifon. So this was the sadistic she demon of the Ice Empire. She was so small! Feeling slightly hurt about Soifon's scathing comment she walked toward the door, she'd have to face the leader eventually…and what? Ask him to let her stay? Why? She sighed and her eyes crept to his bedroom door.

Taking a glance at Soifon's closed door she crept to his bedroom and tried the handle. The door swung open to reveal a bigger bedroom that the others. She breathed in the smell: a combination of mint and sweat. Not unpleasant, Momo found herself girlishly thinking. The room was dark like the others and lit by a desk lap that illuminated a desk cluttered with paper. She inspected the A4 sheets and almost gasped, she'd never seen drawings like these, and they were so detailed and skilled.

One of the metal shelve unit's was completely full of CD's artist varying from the Scorpions to Daft Punk. She'd never heard of them but she was eager to listen to them, she loved music, her mother used to sing often and she liked the rhythm and lyrics of her songs. She picked up a picture of a huge Ice Dragon and smiled it seemed to have been drawn with much more love than the others. "You the girl?" came a cold voice from behind her

"Wah!" she exclaimed turning and facing a young boy with stark white hair "you frightened me"

"I tend to do that" he said narrowing his thoughtful but icy teal eyes. "Come" he said with a light flick of his finger.

"Okay" she said. Who was this guy? Was he Ichigo? Or Ganju? Maybe Yuzu or Karin…those were girls' names but sometimes people could be androgynous these days. "Will you be taking me to the leader?" she asked

"Something like that" he said "what's everyone been saying about him" he added with the tiniest ghost of a smile crossing his face.

"They don't seem to respect his opinion very much" Momo said

"What!?" He exclaimed "those sons of bitches, I'll show them!" he stalked away with hunched shoulders. She jogged to catch up to him.

"Wait" she said "who are you?"  
"Toshiro…the leader" he said scowling "Soifon!" he snapped. Nothing happened. "SOIFON!" He roared. Eventually the door opened and Soifon poked her head out only to be stuck square on the forehead by a thrown shoe from Toshiro.  
"What's that for you little bitch?" She angrily demanded standing up with tears in her eyes.

"You don't respect my opinion!?"

"Who said tha…" she trailed off and glared at Momo. Now she'd really done it!

[End of Chapter 1!]


	2. Chapter 2: Just Run

Toshiro paced giving his clan the death glare as he did, Momo tried to stay as out of the way as possible. She'd obviously accidentally grassed up the other members of the clan and now they were relaying Toshiro's death glare back to her except Matsumoto, she seemed to think it was hilarious. "Now…" Toshiro said eventually "Respect!"

"Aww" everyone groaned unanimously

"Why the 'Respect speech' again?" a ginger haired guy said. By now Momo knew only Kukaku, Toshiro, Soifon, Orihime, Hanataro, Chad and Matsumoto's names. The others were a mystery.

"Okay" Toshiro crossed his arms and then turned to Momo "Who are you and why were you wandering around without a warrior with you?"  
"I uh…" Momo trailed off, she didn't want to talk about her traumatic night.

"I see" Toshiro said as if he was able to read her face.

"So what are we gonna do with her?" Matsumoto asked

"Throw her in the Loch, we don't need another member" Toshiro said coldly.

"Awesome" the ugly man said grabbing her arm, fear surged through her as the thought of a death by incineration went through her

"Ganju" Toshiro said "that was a joke, I find you zealousness to dunk people disturbing"

"Oh" he said letting go of her arm. Momo stood confused, that wasn't a very nice joke to make and no one seemed to be laughing.

"Give her some food and toss her out" he said decisively

"So you're not gonna keep me?"  
"No" Toshiro said

"Why not?"

"This here is Hanataro and Orihime; they heal, this is Ichigo, Isshin and Ganju; they all hunt, this is Soifon and Kukaku; they are charged with the general safekeeping of the Empire. This is Uryu; he's the sniper… you're Momo the…?" he trailed off raising his eyebrows

"I uh…" she racked her brain for any skills…she had nothing, her mother did all the hunting and miscellaneous…all she did was look after their vegetable patch and cook their meals but even the recipes were taught to her by her mother. She shrugged and put on an innocent smile "I'm a good cook?"

"…Cook?" Toshiro said raising his eyebrows. He eventually nodded "that's not bad, okay, you can stay" he fixed her with an icy glare "we run a tight ship here" Momo stifled a laugh as Matsumoto lip synced his exact words "if you fall back even for a second" Matsumoto still imitated "you'll be left behind"

"I understand" Momo said "do you, uh, have a kitchen?"

"We do but it doesn't get used often" Toshiro explained flicking a finger as he walked as a sign for her to follow. "We usually eat our meat barbecued on those fires…no one knows how to cook well here" Toshiro explained. Momo let out a sigh of relief; thankfully her only skill was useful to them.

"How old are you?" Momo asked stupidly

"What's it to you?" he said defensively "if it means you'll stop talking for the rest of this tour I'm sixteen"

"You're mean" Momo said and instantly regretted it

"Being nice isn't what I was elected for"  
"They elected you?"  
"Of course" Toshiro said "I was the only person willing to shoulder the burden but I was still elected…fairly!" his cheeks were tinged a little red.

"Oh" She said simply, she didn't really know how to reply so she just crossed her arms and followed him into the 'Kitchen'

"I know it isn't much but the stoves and worktops are more than enough, we'll have to go to Ikea and see if we can pick up some tools" he said

"You don't have to risk outside for me" Momo said blushing

"Risk?" he said smiling slightly "once you don the Japanese character for 'ten' you'll be able to walk these streets without a bother"  
"How so?"

"Even the hollows know that there are just some people you don't mess with unless you want a dunk in the Loch"

"What happened with Hanataro then?" Momo said. Toshiro's eyes narrowed slightly.

"That's a problem with the 'Rogues' they've been awfully rambunctious lately" he explained "it's not just Yamada, some of the other clans are reporting sex attacks on their members"

"So you've got allied clans?"  
"Something like that" Toshiro said "there is a meeting tonight" he added "I'll take you along, introduce you to the people you can trust to let you stay at their HQ for a night and those you…can't"

"Anyway" he said clapping his hands together "feel free to explore…don't bother me unless it's completely necessary, once you're done get Hanataro to patch up that leg"

"Okay" she said brushing some dust off the worktop. It was an infinitely better kitchen than her old one so she had no complaints, she wondered what kind of ingredients she'd have to work with, there wasn't much nature in this city. Hopefully that big park she'd seen on her way past had some herbs and stuff, she seriously doubted these people were hoarders of any such greenery.

Sighing she looked around; there was only a few pots and pans, no cheese grater which was pretty much useless anyway but good for dicing carrots and potatoes. She'd need a wok and a frying pan too. She added dinner plates and cutlery to her mental list too. She turned and walked out of the kitchen and sought out Hanataro, he sat drinking something from a mug. "Toshiro said you've to take a look at my leg" she said to him. He looked up at her and then down at her leg.

"Lemmie see" he said patting a chair in front of him. Momo sank into the plush sofa with a sigh. He fetched a stool and positioned her leg on it and pulled her trouser leg up. "Hmm" he said "it'll need a clean and some bandaging, nothing too deep thankfully"

"It hurt plenty when it happened"

"Wounds to the shin usually do" he said dabbing her wound with a cotton bud, she grimaced at the pain.

"I've got a question" Momo said

"I'm probably not the best person to ask anything to"

"Who are the 'rogues'?" She asked. Hanataro tensed slightly but didn't give much away.  
"Rogues are basically normal humans that have no clan usually because they are too crazy" Hanataro explained shivering slightly "they do occasionally band together to attack actual clans and steal their food, women and batteries."

"Women?"  
"Yeah" Hanataro said "like many philosophers say: women are the key to survival but the same could be said for men, but in this anarchic society women are nought but mere cattle to be bought and traded for."

"Sounds awful" Momo said

"Consider yourself very lucky you ran into Orihime back there" he said dropping a blood soaked cotton ball into a bin. "Toshiro doesn't go on the market; in fact he's only ever bought one woman"

"Who?"  
"Soifon" Hanataro said "she used to be in the Stealth Force and then there was some kind of accident and she was captured by the Espada and Toshiro bought her for the blueprints for his Geothermal energy converter"

"What was the accident or don't you know?"

"Toshiro was right" Hanataro said laughing "you do ask a lot of questions, I do know what happened to Soifon but it's not my place to say, if you want to know, ask her. Don't expect her to tell you, when I first asked she nearly broke my jaw"

"What about the others?" Momo asked "the woman with the missing arm?"  
"She's one of the Shiba's" Hanataro said "the Ice Empire was made by the merging of two smaller clans called the Shiba's and 'Matsumoto's traveling band of merry folk'"

"So who else was a Shiba?"  
"Isshin, Ganju, Karin, Yuzu and Ichigo they also had a subsidiary clan of Orihime, Chad and Uryu"

"So Matsumoto, you and Toshiro were her clan?"

"We had others too but they went to other clans, some even made their own" Hanataro said "also we found Toshiro only a year ago wandering around not unlike you, he was as thin as a pencil when Matsumoto brought him to me. I fear only a day later and he would've died"

Once Hanataro had patched her up she explored the rest of the building, the fact she'd found a place rest her head so quickly numbed some of the pain that still weighed her down, her mother's smiling face haunted her, the fact she'd never see it for real ever again brought a slight tear to her eye as she explored a room full of green paper, literally thousands of them lay around some with twenty written on them, some with fifty and others with five, one and ten.

"Can you believe people used to toil mercilessly their entire lives to earn this stuff" Toshiro's voice came from behind her. She loosed a squeal of surprise.

"Does anyone tell you that you sneak around too much?" she said

"Often" Toshiro replied coolly "this meeting is in an hour so if you're coming best get ready and stick this around your belt" he tossed a sword at her. She caught it and stared

"Why do I need a sword?"  
"It might scare some people away…that's until you open your mouth of course"

"That's not very nice!" she snapped, her cheeks reddening

"It's not my fault you sound like a feeble little bed wetter" Toshiro smirked

"H-Hey!" she snapped but shut up when she realised she had no come back.

"Let's get a move on" he said looking over his shoulder. She followed him as he walked away.

"I…uh heard you were found wandering around"

"I was" Toshiro said "got lost on the way to the bathroom"

"Really?" she half exclaimed. He turned and flashed her a slight smile

"Don't be silly" he said "my old team were killed by…something and I was left to wander, it was lucky that I escaped, damn that thing was fast"

"Was it a Hollow?"

"Something like that" Toshiro explained "like no Hollow I've ever seen but…it was practically human, it was human…it must've been but it was too fast to be human…I don't understand!" he exclaimed slamming a fist on the wall. Momo was taken aback by the outburst and stopped. He let out a light chuckle "it's just one of those things, Now go and ask Soifon very nicely if you can borrow some of her clothes, it'll make you look a little less like a ragamuffin"

"Do you wash you own clothes?"

"Yeah" Toshiro said "in the subway below there is also a water main of some kind that flows through quickly like our own personal river"

"I'll go to Soifon then" Momo said. Toshiro nodded and left her to it. She stalked off toward the bedrooms hoping that she wouldn't embarrass Toshiro and the others at the meeting.

* * *

Toshiro furrowed his brow as his three lieutenants stared at him. "What?" he eventually said

"Oh...hmm" Soifon said sarcastically "maybe it's something to do with Momo!?"

"Oh" Toshiro said inwardly sighing, he knew the others would become very curious about his decision to let her stay and they'd eventually figure out that it's because he thought the girl was so beautiful that if he stared at her for too long he might die of a heart attack

"What the hell?" Ichigo said "you'd never let someone stay just because they could cook, hell you only let Soifon stay because she could fight, hunt, engineer meticulous traps and sneak into anything"

"We need a cook" Toshiro said feebly. Realisation swept over them at the same time and Soifon scoffed, Ichigo smirked and Matsumoto grinned broadly  
"You liiike her" Matsumoto laughed. Toshiro crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders as his cheeks grew scarlet. He quickly tried to think of a suitable excuse but found all intelligent thought abandoning him.

"There was me thinking he'd never go out with a girl" Ichigo said chuckling

"Shut up" Toshiro snapped

"Don't forget to take her for candle lit dinners" Matsumoto laughed

"And when you guys go to bed always remember…" Ichigo grinned "two in the pink one stink"  
"That's it!" Toshiro roared "you've asked for it" he brandished his fist angrily but stopped when Momo entered the room wearing a loose pair of jogging pants and a t-shit that was a few sizes too big, it was a few sizes too big for Soifon too but Momo suited it better.

Everyone's eyes went from Momo to Toshiro and from the corner of his eyes he saw them smirk and snicker. "Let's go" He said "Ichigo, you're in charge 'till I get back and uh…make sure Kukaku doesn't steal my blanket again, I don't want her damn stink all over it"

"Have you told Momo about breeders yet" Ichigo chided

"Breeders?" she said with those magnificent soft looking lips moving to phrase each word with her goddess like voice.

"It was a joke, just ignore him" Toshiro said picking up the white Haori that signified his membership as one of the 13 leaders of New York. He slipped it on over his light blue hoodie and jeans. He really didn't want to go to this meeting he hated most of the other leaders they were all either assholes, insane, selfish or creepily nice or seductive. The benefits of being a part of the alliance greatly outweighed the cons but he could feel it…the alliance was beginning to crumble, last meeting had three of the leaders fighting over who got the Brooklyn bridge.

Momo obediently followed him out of the Empire State building and through the darkening streets of the crumbling city. The asphalt had already begun to split and crack as nature tried to reclaim this patch of wasted land. Toshiro often found it confusing. Everyone said it had been a nuclear war but…Nukes don't leave the earth like this! Stuff still grew, water was still drinkable even the Geiger meter he built didn't detect anything and where were all the craters? Also if there was a nuclear war wouldn't someone at least aim one for New York? But the city was almost undamaged, there clearly was a struggle here but it didn't escalate to the atomic scale. In Toshiro's expert opinion…he had no idea; it was as if there was a war going on one minute and then the next everyone was gone.

"You seem perplexed" Momo said

"The earth is like this why?" he said, maybe she'd heard a different story.

"The war?" Momo asked

"Yeah" Toshiro said

"Well apparently two big countries called…uh The People's Republic of Persia and China got into a fight over oil and all hell broke loose"

"That's what I've heard" Toshiro said. The People's Republic of Persia was a combination of Iran, Iraq, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan they were all united sometime in the past and got greedy, apparently.

He'd have to give Momo some lessons on how to show herself as someone not to be messed with; right now she looked like a victim. He got enough shtick from the other leaders over the fact he was a teen but if he brought a waffling wimp with him he'd be laughed out of the moot. "When you get to the meeting I'd rather you didn't look into anyone's eyes and most certainly don't speak unless you're spoken too"

"O-Okay" she said

"And think before you speak, never stutter or stammer" Toshiro said

"I'm suddenly apprehensive about this meeting" Momo said.

"It's too late now" he said pointing at a large white stone building "that's where the meeting is held"

"So there are thirteen people like you gonna be in there?" Momo asked

"Not like me" Toshiro said "they are all different, they all lead differently, some with a sickening iron fist and some with care and understanding"

Two guards stood at the doors of the large building, they stepped aside for Toshiro, his Haori providing his entrance. Inside the building had been mostly sacked and vandalised, the once proud American flag now sat flaccid and defaced the creepy yellow smiley face that provided the symbol for the number three clan Ichimaru's 'Snakes'. Toshiro glanced back at Momo who was trying not to look curious. "Mr Hitsugaya" someone said to his left. Toshiro turned to face Aizen; Toshiro wasn't sure about Aizen or his 'Lotus' clan, they unnerved him. Aizen was always too nice and too forgiving but it raised a question on how was someone so…weak _in_ one of the most powerful clans never mind leading it, there was something going on! He'd get to the bottom of it…eventually.

"Aizen" Toshiro said "you made it this month"

"Yes" he smiled "last month I was…busy"

"Shame you missed it" Toshiro said "it's rare you get to see a slug fest between Yoruichi, Kenpachi and Kensei"

"I hear Yoruichi is settling in nicely on the Brooklyn Bridge" Aizen said

"I'll be honest I didn't expect her to win so easily" Toshiro said crossing his arms. Aizen's eyes went to Momo

"You've picked up a new member?" he said smiling

"Hmm, yeah" Toshiro said "Momo this is Sosuke Aizen of the Lotus clan, Aizen this is Momo…no previous clan"

"A wanderer, eh?" he smiled charmingly and Momo blushed. Toshiro almost scowled, she's too damn young for you Aizen! He exclaimed inside his head.

"Yeah I uh came from the countryside" Momo said

"How peculiar" Aizen said "I was always told there wasn't a countryside to come from"

Toshiro shooed Momo on before something weird happened, weird things tended to happen around Aizen it was disturbing to say the least. "During the meeting you've to stand to my left behind me" Toshiro turned and looked into her eyes which seemed to startle her "no matter what he says or does never trust that man"

"He seemed nice to me" Momo said

"Exactly" Toshiro said "you don't get by in a place like this by being nice"

"Maybe he managed it"

"Maybe he's a two faced, devious maniac" Toshiro said pushing open a set of double doors and strolling into a room with nine people wearing exactly the same Haori's as him. The grandmaster of this meeting was an ancient man called Yamamoto, he was by far the most powerful person in the world at this moment, somehow he could manipulate fire and he made damn well sure that anyone who defied his word was medium rare to say the least.

In fact a lot of the leaders had unique abilities that Toshiro really wasn't comfortable with. The woman of the second Clan the stealth force he was convinced she could teleport or at least move at very high speed. The third clan…he wasn't sure if he could do anything but he still freaked Toshiro out, Ichimaru had been a member of Matsumoto's merry band of folk of whatever she called it and left before Toshiro joined. The remaining leaders all filed in behind him and they eventually all stood in some semblance of a civilised line.

"Now we call on the 44th monthly meeting" Yamamoto said powerfully. "Now…Kurotsuchi, I hear you've got a qualm with Komamura"

"Ah yes" the clown said. Earlier Toshiro theorised a leader was either insane, perverted, an asshole or selfish, in Kurotsuchi's case it was all four. "I've found a fun subject in Komamura's clan and I wish to buy her, but he won't sell"

"She's four years old!" Komamura snarled. Komamura was probably the only mutant that was in the alliance; taking the form of a large wolf man he was intimidating to say the least

"I don't respect the opinions of men who cock their leg to piss" Kurotsuchi chided

"What was that!?" Komamura roared

"Enough!" Yamamoto snapped "if Komamura does not wish to sell the girl then she is not for sale!"

"But…"  
"I will have no talkback!" he snapped. Toshiro crossed his arms

"They're like kids" he muttered

"Scathing words from a kid himself" Kurotsuchi retorted "perhaps that white haired zygote is harvestable"

"Why don't you ask Ukitake?" Toshiro said

"Don't bring me into this" Ukitake chuckled

"Because I'm asking you, c'mon a few skin samples…an arm or a leg is all I ask for"

"You'll have no such thing" Yoruichi said "I want my Shiro baby to be intact!"

"Perhaps I can put your remains in jars next to each other" he replied

"Here we go again" Kyoraku chuckled tipping his hat

"I feel I must report another sex attack" Byakuya said above the arguing. Everyone went silent, even Toshiro was slightly surprised by his speaking; he'd almost forgot what his voice sounded like.

"Continue" Yamamoto said

"Yes" Byakuya said "My sister was attacked on Monday by an unnamed Rogue, we prevented any impregnation or penetration a that but the message still stands clear, I'd like to organise and apartheid and then genocide"

"A what!?" Toshiro snapped "if we do that then we're no different form the damn hollows!"

"Rather than have our women raped and tortured?" Byakuya said.

"I think Toshiro is right" Aizen said "we shouldn't be so hasty"

"You never do anything in a hurry" Byakuya said

"What rather than you Byakuya, fuckin hypocrite" Yoruichi snapped "nearly twenty females get attacked and don't get off your ass or even care but when it happens to your own flesh and blood you want to kill them all, get the fuck outta here"

"Such course language doesn't suit a woman of your stature" Byakuya calmly said

"Tch" Yoruichi tutted "you gotta be on our side here Yamamoto"

"I am" Yamamoto said "but these attacks have gone on long enough, our credibility is being questioned and we have to do something rash, something that'll scare them away from their attacks"

"Now you're talking" Kenpachi said

"What are we gonna do?"

"Display" Yamamoto said

"I don't like the sound of that" Toshiro muttered

"Spend a day hunting and killing any rogue you find and string them by their necks from the lampposts"  
"Strange fruit indeed" Yoruichi muttered

"Are we all in agreement!?"

"Yes" some said, others nodded. Toshiro only grumbled, this was a bad idea in his hands, if they don't kill enough the Rogues may feel the need to retaliate, more than one clan would fall and Toshiro didn't want to risk his entire clans safety due to sex attacks that were easily preventable.

"That concludes our meting for this month" Yamamoto said standing wearily up. The instant the meeting was finished he felt softness squish into the side of his head.

"I'm really not in the mood for your shit Yoruichi" Toshiro muttered. He didn't have to look at the person to know who it was.

"I was curious" Yoruichi said massaging his shoulders "how's Soifon?"  
"Still throws up at the very mention of your name" Toshiro said "only you could be able to completely and utterly destroy someone's psyche"

"I didn't mean it" Yoruichi said chuckling, she ruffled Momo's hair "who's this cute little crumpet"  
"Momo" Toshiro said "she's a newbie"  
"Oh dear, am I being replaced as the love of your life?" she said sadly. Toshiro for a second could've sword he saw Momo scowl.

"There was nothing to begin with" Toshiro said

"We both know that's not true" Yoruichi said seductively "in fact if that Hollow hadn't appeared we would've went all the way"

"You seduced me!" Toshiro exclaimed with red cheeks

"Typical, Toshiro" came Kyoraku's voice to his right "got the women on tap"

"Let's go" he said to Momo

"O-Okay" she stammered jogging after him. "Who was she?" she eventually asked once they were out of their earshot.

"Yoruichi" Toshiro said "she's a nymphomaniac, an annoying one at that. That being said you can trust her, she'll give you a bed for the night…her bed"  
"Uh" Momo stared at him "I'm a girl"

"It never stopped her before" Toshiro said "god only knows what STD's she'd got"

"What about the others?"  
"The Older leaders you can trust, Ukitake; the white haired one, Kyoraku and Unohana; the other woman are all trustworthy"

"Anyone else?"

"I'd rather you went to those four rather than the others but if you're desperate Kenpachi and Komamura will both look after you but…watch Kenpachi's subordinates they're all men and they're all horny"

They walked out of the building and breathed in the clean air of the city, apparently the city's air used to be thick with smog and pollution but now it was- pain seared through his body as electricity buzzed into him paralyzing his muscles. With a groan he fell to the ground.

"Toshiro?" Momo said looking back when she noticed he wasn't with her. By now they were out of sight of the building. What happened, why couldn't he move?

Momo's eyes widened as she saw something behind him. A new pain exploded as someone plunged a blade of some kind into his upper back. "Toshiro!" Momo cried covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide with fear and surprise.  
"Momo…run" he groaned, he was going to die, here of all places! Ichigo was a good leader; he'd lead the clan right. His head grew heavy and his vision started to ebb into darkness. Momo finally turned to run.

"Get back here you little bitch" someone shouted chasing after her. Toshiro caught a flash of blue hair as someone sprinted past after Momo.

"Toshiro…" came a voice, not from outside but in "are you going to die Toshiro, stabbed from behind like an animal?"

"Who are you?" Toshiro asked

"Me…" the voice trailed off "I am you, I am your power"

"Power" Toshiro asked inwardly

"Your power" it said "I am the ice, I am Hyorinmaru"

[End of Chapter two]


	3. Chapter 3: Cryomancer

Fear surged through Momo for the third time this day she was lost, this city all looked the same in the dark and before she'd known it she was running through unfamiliar deserted streets. Toshiro's face kept springing to mind, the desperation for her to flee. Then there was that man, where did he go? He was right behind her a few minutes ago but now he was gone. Damn it was cold! Her breath came out as a light fog, this wasn't natural for mid-July!

She continued to run past two signs that were spray painted with what looked like a black cat's face. She wanted to scream for help but she was worried it's lure her attacker. Sparing a glance behind her she was relieved to see there was no one there. Her head struck something soft but unmoving. With a gasp she fell back and landed on her behind. She stared up at what she'd run into.

"Being a member of a rival clan means you're not really allowed in my turf" Yoruichi said, her golden eyes burned into her with a touch of humour and a touch of sadism.

"T-Toshiro!" Momo stammered

"What about him?" Yoruichi said

"There you are you little bitch!" the man who'd attacked Toshiro said emerging from the mist. "You can't run away when I have stuff like Pesquisa looking out for you"  
"Just so you know" Yoruichi said "if you take one more step I'll be forced to kill you" the man stopped and stared at the vandalised signpost.

"So you're the sultry leader of the Black Cat Stealth Force" the man said "I have great respect for a fellow feline but…the bitch…she's mine"

"A fellow feline, eh?" Yoruichi said "who might you be, I don't think I've ever been graced with your company"

"The names Grimmjow" he said "I'm Espada Number 6"

"Six?" Yoruichi said

"What's that?" Momo quizzed

"Shush" Yoruichi said not taking her eyes of the man. Momo considered who looked more dangerous: the man with the blood thirsty grin on his face and scars covering his arms and chest or the slender female who stared at Grimmjow as if he was nothing more than a mere pup begging for attention.

"I'll give you one and only one opportunity to leave" Yoruichi said "if you do not take it I will kill you"  
"Though I don't deny that you very much could kill me, after all we have list of people we can and cannot fight, you happen to be on the list I'm not allowed to fight but mark my words, Orihime" Grimmjow said to Momo "we'll catch you off guard again and when we do…you and that crazy power of your will be ours" he backed off through the mist and disappeared

"Did he just call you Orihime?" Yoruichi said

"I think so" Momo said

"Toshiro usually takes Orihime with him to the meetings perhaps this man had mistook your identity" Yoruichi said "easily done I suppose, there are very few working cameras these days"  
"We have to go to Toshiro!" Momo exclaimed remembering his fatal wound, maybe just maybe Grimmjow had missed his heart when he stabbed him.

"What happened?" Yoruichi said

"That man" Momo said "he stabbed Toshiro in the back"

"Well that was a slight faux pas on Toshiro's side wasn't it?" Yoruichi chuckled following Momo

"How can you be so calm?" Momo said, she was practically frantic, poor Toshiro!

"I know he's alive" Yoruichi said crossing her arms "the weather wouldn't be like this if he were dead"

"You mean he's doing this?"

"You've never met a Cryomancer before?"

"No" Momo said "my mother said that people had already begun to evolve due to hollows and they gained powers but I never thought they'd be able to do this much!" she said. Despite generating mist the temperature had fell well below zero, such power required to refrigerate the entire of Manhattan was impressive.

Momo led Yoruichi all the way to Toshiro. He was crawling slowly down the street with a look of determination upon his usually lax features. "Well, well well" Yoruichi chuckled crouching beside him "if it isn't Wonderboy himself"

"Y-Yoruichi?" he said, flecks of blood splattered his lips. Yoruichi's smile disappeared and she hauled him onto her shoulders.

"We're gonna have to get him to Orihime quickly" Yoruichi said "he's frozen his wound but his heart has still been pierced. Only she can heal him now. I hope you're a fast runner"

"I can keep up" Momo said. Yoruichi flashed another smile.

"No you can't" She said and took off jogging. Her jogging pace was easily faster than Momo's maximum sprinting pace. Momo took off after them, quickly reaching her fastest pace Yoruichi still pulled away. She wanted to shout after them, tell her to slow it down but she didn't want to hinder Toshiro's recovery.

Luckily Momo did lose sight of them before they reached the Empire Building the large plane sticking out of it making it easy to spot. Yoruichi did the special knock which worried Momo slightly. Toshiro had said no one knew the special knock! All in all she was quite jealous of Yoruichi, she had it all; super speed and fitness, level headedness and even a killer body. Momo just felt completely inadequate compared to Yoruichi.

The door opened as she finally caught up. "Yoruichi?" Ichigo said staring curiously at her. "Whoa what happened to Toshiro!?" he exclaimed

"No time to explain, go get Orihime" Yoruichi said. She stepped inside after Yoruichi who disappeared with Ichigo and Toshiro. Kukaku slammed the door behind her.

"What happened?" Kukaku half asked half demanded. She looked worried and annoyed at the same time.

"Uh" Momo said trying to get the story semi-coherent in her mind. "There was a guy, he called himself…Grimmjow"

"One of the Espada?" Kukaku said

"You know?"

"Yeah" Kukaku said "Information is my game…with one arm a girl has to get another thing in her repertoire or she finds herself somewhat obsolete"

"I thought Toshiro said you help guard the building" Momo said  
"I do but I also buy and sell information" Kukaku said "I know the most about everything in this area and elsewhere"  
"Elsewhere?" Momo said following Kukaku as she walked through the lobby

"Yeah" Kukaku said "back when we were the Shiba's we came from the desert in the east, water was scarce so we travelled west"

"Is it easier here?"  
"Fuck no" Kukaku laughed "I wish we hadn't bothered"

"I hope Toshiro will be alright" Momo said pressing the elevator call button

"Don't worry" Kukaku said "I've seen Orihime heal worse wounds than that"  
"But not your arm?"  
"…no" Kukaku said "I was born without it"

"Really?"  
"No" Kukaku chuckled "I don't feel like talking about it so shut up about it"

"Sorry" Momo said.

They took the elevator up; the journey was tense and seemed to take longer than the last time. Her tension rose along with the elevator, she felt like she may burst with worry; like a grape being stepped on. Eventually the lift pinged open and Momo was greeted with Toshiro lying on a table with his top removed. Blood covered his surprisingly chiselled chest. Fair orange light came from Orihime's hands and covered his wound.

"Ah, Momo" Yoruichi said walking over. Her hands were stained with blood.

"Will he be alright?" Momo asked.

"He'll be fine" Yoruichi said "he probably gave the Grim Reaper one of those icy glares of his and it just went 'nah screw that'" she joked feebly. "Anyway, Ichigo do you mind if I use the…facilities?"

"Don't be all night" Ichigo said waving her off "you know Toshiro hates it when outsiders use it"

"Use what?" Momo said. Yoruichi fixed her with a happy smile.

"Why the hot spring of course!" She smiled "Haven't you been, c'mon, there isn't anything we can do here"

Momo was dragged back into the elevator and Yoruichi pressed floor 'B2'. "Technically this is the car park but most of it caved in and it flooded a bit and then the earth cracked open"  
"Yeah and lava came out"  
"Yep" Yoruichi said "some of the flooded pools were naturally heated by the lava, some are boiling hot and some are barely lukewarm. Some of the pools are perfect"

The elevator pinged again and the doors opened. The heat hit Momo like a ton of bricks. After the chilly night air of New York the heat here felt like a furnace. Momo followed Yoruichi out of the elevator. The lay out of the area was rather eclectic, with a large pool of lava taking up half of the hundred metre squared room. A large device sat in the centre, it buzzed electrically. "Here we go" Yoruichi said pointing. She stopped when she noticed Soifon sitting in the pool with her eyes closed and earphones plugged in. An MP3 player sat on top of a towel just outside the spring. Yoruichi flashed Momo a smile and pulled off her top. Momo's cheeks went scarlet when she realised she wasn't wearing any sort of bra underneath.

"Don't be such a prude, come on join me"

"I uh…" Momo most certainly wasn't getting undressed!  
"There is spare swimwear in that locker over there" Yoruichi pointed at a silver locker that sat lopsided in the gloom of the room that was only really lit by the magma which bubbled away ominously. "I just like to be nude because I'm an exhibitionist"

"Toshiro said you were"

"I'm sure he did" Yoruichi said "he's just a great big prude too, taking things too literal"

Momo picked out a decent looking swimsuit and changed into it, taking cover behind the locker to do so. Dipping her big toe in the water Momo sighed, it did feel good. Steam slowly rose from it, the whole room a slight…aroma, it wasn't particularly pleasant but it was bearable. She slid into the water. Her body volume caused enough disturbances to wake Soifon from her relaxation.

Her steely grey eyes focused on her and then shifted to Yoruichi who seemed to be inspecting her nails innocently. "What's _she_ doing here?" Soifon scowled.  
"She helped bring Toshiro back after he got stabbed" Momo said, Yoruichi had been a reliable ally, she was willing to stand up for her but Soifon…she was scary!

"He got stabbed?" Soifon said, her scowl being replaced momentarily by something resembling worry.

"Yeah" Momo said.

"Damn" Soifon said grabbing her towel and jumping out. She wore a swim suit like Momo, a yellow one with little bumble bees on it.

"So what happened between you guys?" Momo asked once Soifon had changed.

"I never used to be as smart and damn right kissable" Yoruichi chuckled "I really only cared about the greater good. Soifon was threatened and so were more members of my clan and me too, I weighed my options, I decided Soifon wasn't worth the effort and left her"

"That's quite cruel" Momo said

"I know, in hindsight I should've at least tried to save her but I…made my choice and abandoned her, now she hates me and has sworn to surpass me and take my head for her own"

"…oh" Momo said  
"We reap what we sow I suppose" Yoruichi said "I made her pretty much what she was and now she's sworn to use the skills I taught her to take my life, kind of poetic"  
"You seem rather…calm about it" Momo said

"She doesn't stand a holy hope in hell of surpassing me" Yoruichi said "I know it's a pompous thing to say but it's true, she'd losing her will to do it, living with Toshiro and Orihime is softening her up"

"How do you know?"  
"She would've tried to strangle me this time last year if she'd seen me"

"What about Toshiro?" Momo said "you guys have a…history?"

"Not really" Yoruichi said "I thought he was a cute kid and I tried to seduce him then I heard about his past and gave it up and just teased him, poor guy needs all the happiness and cheer he can get"

"His clan died, I heard" Momo said

"Not just his clan" Yoruichi said "it's not really my place to say but…I'm a massive gossip so I'll spill but you didn't hear this from me"  
"What?"  
"He had a family too, mother, father even a brother. He saw them all killed very tragic but that's not the stickler. Above all things he loved there was a girl"  
"A girl?" Momo wondered

"Yeah" Yoruichi said "I met Toshiro's old clan once and I'd seen the girl and damn she was pretty, looked a little like you actually, never mind, they would've got married when they were older, it was just one of those things where the two people are so…close and comfortable they'd never break apart unless…something broke them apart. There is a reason that boy's heart is frozen in more than one sense of the word, he may only be sixteen but he's lost a lot more than any _man_ could bear"  
"That's horrible" Momo said. She felt so sad for the white haired boy above, lying there broken and beaten; how many times had he felt just how he looked tonight?

"What about you?" Momo asked "where did you come from?"  
"The president" Yoruichi said "The President of the USA was my dad he disappeared…I…uh… mean he died in the war like everyone else I made up my own clan when I was ten with my buddy Kisuke and Tessai, we gathered more members and eventually became the Black Cats and we merged with another clan called the Stealth Force, Toshiro still refers to us as the Stealth Force but technically the Black Cats are correct since we were the dominant ones in the merging"

"Do you remember what that man said about Orihime, should we warn her?"  
"Tell Orihime what?" came Toshiro's voice for behind them. Momo turned about quickly and faced him. His chest…it was completely healed!  
"Oh hey" Yoruichi said "she's getting better"  
"Soon I think she'll be able to undo even death" Toshiro said rubbing his chest. "Now tell me what happened"  
"Grimmjow, that's his name by the way, thought Momo was another girl, Orihime"  
"Why was he after her?"  
"He wanted her power" Yoruichi said

"Yo Tosh" Kukaku said walking through a door labelled 'stairway to heaven'

"What?"  
"Aizen is here" she said "and he seems to think you're dead and want's to speak to the new leader about buying Orihime from us"

"This should be fun to watch" Yoruichi nudging Momo.

-End of chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4: Judas

**Long-time no see, eh?**

"Aizen?" Momo said looking between Kukaku and Toshiro. Personally, Toshiro was more than a little livid, there was too much that didn't sit right with him now. What was Aizen up to? Was in league with the Espada? If so, was he a mere lap dog or was he something else?

"No time to dawdle" Yoruichi said jumping out of the spring and showing off her full nakedness. Even after seeing her countless times nude it still made him a little hot under the collar. He averted his eyes and crossed his arms indignantly. Kukaku let out a chuckle

"Still can't resist a bit of nudity"

"Well you know me" Yoruichi laughed "exhibitionist to the end"

"You're just a big pervert" Kukaku replied smiling. Momo also got out of the hot spring, Toshiro tried not to stare but she was just so alluring. He clutched his chest as his heart beat awkwardly.

"Is something wrong?" Momo asked her wide chocolaty eyes rooting him to the spot like a rabbit in the headlights.

"No I'm fine" Toshiro wheezed back "my hearts just a bit…sore"

Once both girls were dressed; Momo hid behind a locker to do so, they were away up the stairs and elevator toward Aizen. He wasn't particularly sure what to say but he was sure he was gonna be throwing some damaging accusations his way, all of which were probably going to be absorbed by that arrogant feigned kindness smirk on his face.

The lift pinged open and Toshiro strode out, his blood-stained haori flitting behind him. Ichigo sat with Orihime…more like between Aizen and Orihime. Soifon leaned on a pillar behind Aizen with her arms crossed, she was trying to seem relaxed but Toshiro could see her forearm muscles clenched, she was more like a coiled spring waiting to explode in someone's face.

"I do declare" Aizen said "Mr Hitsugaya is not dead, my sources may need a slight readjustment" Toshiro caught the tiniest trace of bitterness when he said 'sources'

"Why the hell are you trying to buy members that you know full and well aren't for sale?"  
"Why?" Aizen said with raised eyebrows as if he hadn't expected such a stupid question to come his way. "To make sure Orihime is safe of course, her ability is completely unique and dare I say it, your clan would be severely weakened without you"  
"So you try and poach their main healer, that'd destroy the clan, you idiot" Ichigo snapped "you can't forget you aren't supposed to be making moves against the other clans"

"I hope you've got Miss Inoue on a breeding programme, that power can't be allowed to die out" he said his smile not faltering

There was a loud slam as Toshiro smashed his sword into the ground. It stood between him and Aizen. "You have fifteen seconds to leave or you die"  
"Now who's making moves against the other clans?"  
"Ten" Toshiro said not removing his eyes from Aizen

"Have I upset you in some way?"  
"Five" Toshiro grabbed his sword back out the ground and pointed it at him

"I'd watch your back Mr Hitsugaya, I'm fairly certain there is some kind of Hollow out there that dwarves the rest of them in terms of strength and speed. Some of the men have taken to calling them Vasto Lorde"

"One" Toshiro said

"Goodbye now" Aizen smiled "It was nice meeting you Miss Hinamori"

Toshiro turned to Momo. "How did he know my second name?" Momo said after he'd sauntered out the door.

"He does that" Ichigo said, his eyes on the door as if daring Aizen to come back so he could attack him. "He knows far too much and never has an explanation on how he knows it"

"Yoruichi" Toshiro said "it's high time you went back to your clan"

"My clan's boring" Yoruichi said "you guys are where the fun is at"

"Tough" Toshiro snapped "go away"

"One of these days" Yoruichi patted him lightly on the shoulder "you'll regret not being nicer to me" she squeezed it lightly at first then her grip tightened making him scowl at her. She grinned happily and with a whoosh noise she was gone. Momo stared around her trying to see where Yoruichi went.

"I'm going to bed" Soifon said strolling away

"Perhaps you should get some rest too" Toshiro said to Momo "tomorrow we'll be decorating your room and getting you into our routines and ways"

"Uh, okay" Momo said "but you should sleep too, you've had a hard time tonight"  
"I'm fine" Toshiro said

"B-but"  
"Don't worry about me" Toshiro said trying to keep up his wall of cool "I'm fine"

"Okay" she said, she didn't seem to believe him but probably wanted to avoid the confrontation. She walked past and followed Soifon up the bedrooms. Toshiro sighed and sat on a desk.

"Crisis after crisis" Toshiro muttered "I'm sick of it"

"Perhaps we should move" Ichigo said "go south, there the hunting is better, we get good fruit and herbs"  
"I'm not a fan of the heat but I think you're right" Toshiro said "New York has become dangerous, and Orihime is a target, getting out of here is the best way to go about it"

***Change***

"Who does he think he is?" Yoruichi said to herself as she walked past the black cats signpost. "Doesn't he know that they are _my _friends too?"

"Yoruichi-san!" came Kisuke's voice from a building above her.

"Oh hey" she said looking up at him "you on guard duty tonight?"  
"No I was on guard duty for this evening and no one has relieved me yet"  
"Who was supposed to relieve you?"  
"Omaeda" Kisuke said

"C'mon let's get to base and we'll kick his ass, there's something I want to talk to you about"

"What's the problem?" he said landing soundlessly beside her.

"Aizen's pulling a fast one I think…well you'd be silly not to think it now"  
"I never did trust him" he said "I think it was the hair"  
"C'mon let's hurry along, it won't do to get caught out here by a hollow or something" Yoruichi said picking up her pace and going into a light jog that was easily the average person's sprinting pace. Kisuke kept up with her easily but she knew she was still faster than him.

They eventually came to the Black Cats' Headquarters, it used to be a bank it was surrounded by a chain-link fence that was erected by the army when the war broke out to stop looters raiding and stealing all the money. Yoruichi was only eleven when everyone disappeared but the memories of that day were still fresh in her mind, one minute she was having fun with friends and the next they were gone and she was alone. Only Kisuke was there. They'd bonded closely due to them accidentally killing someone and they buried the man in the woods. They' promised to keep it a secret forever and it'd be a hella scandal if the President's daughter had been found out to have killed a man.

"Something's wrong" Yoruichi said noticing how quiet it was. Her almost luminescent eyes found one of her clan mates on the ground…dead.

"We may have a slight problem" Kisuke said feeling the pulse of another.

"No shit" Yoruichi said "c'mon" she said moving further into their base, bodies littered floors and blood decorated the walls, her family, her friends…dead. Luckily she was a heartless bitch so she didn't shed a tear. She found Omaeda lying face down near the emergency exit. She rolled him over, he was still alive but barely.

"Tell me what did this" Yoruichi demanded

"Cap…" he choked "Ai…zen"

"Aizen?"

"Yeah" he gurgled "he can… create ill…" Omaeda's eyes lost their focus and he went limp. Her second in command was now Kisuke.

"What'll we do now!?" Kisuke said, he was obviously panicking

"This was a warning" Yoruichi said thinking about it logically "to the other clans: No one is invincible but nevertheless we were attacked when me and you weren't here that means we were only at a third of our strength"  
"But it doesn't cover the question"

"We'll keep our eyes on The Lotus clan" Yoruichi said "plant a few bombs and blow this joint up…officially we died in this explosion"

"So clinical" Kisuke said

"I don't have time to be a wailing and heartbroken wreck"

"You never have" Kisuke said

"Neither have you" Yoruichi chided giving him a sideways glance

"Even in this world of monsters we still come out on top"

"We'll redeem ourselves someday, old friend"

***Change***

Momo groaned and stretched sunlight spilled through the boarded up windows. The rays of bright yellow light illuminated the fine dust floating in the air like a trillion little stars in the sky. She sat up and went to pull on her clothes…huh. Looking left then right she almost squealed when she realised someone had stolen her clothes!

She started to panic as she jumped out of bed and only in her underwear she crept to the door only to be smacked in the face by it opening. "Oh my" Matsumoto said looking at the girl sprawled out on the ground.

"Owie" she muttered rubbing her nose

"We got you some new clothes" she dropped a small pile of assorted clothes onto the foot of her bed. "Mismatched underwear" Matsumoto said looking her up and down "a faux pas if I do say so myself"

"Hey!" Momo said covering herself self-consciously with her arms.

"No need to be shy around me" Matsumoto said "Toshiro may say I'm only a forager but really I'm the clan's stylist!"

"Stylist?" Momo said cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Matsumoto grinned. Soifon appeared beside Matsumoto and said

"Hurry up and get dressed there is something I've been forced to show you"

"But I…" Matsumoto started to say

"Shut up" Soifon snapped at Matsumoto which earned a scowl. Turning her back Matsumoto stormed away.

"That was mean"

"I don't care" Soifon said "I've got no time for people who waste time"

Momo pulled one a black and white stripy t-shirt and some faded jeans. For almost the first time in her life she was wearing clean clothes and had a clean body to go with it! "What did you want to show me?" Momo asked feeling apprehensive. Soifon turned her back and indicated for her to follow.

"We have certain routines that Toshiro integrated in case things went south"  
"South?"

"In case we get invaded or there's a fire or whatever"

"Oh"

"Anyway the first protocol is nicknamed 'Bugging out'" Soifon explained "It's probably the main reason Toshiro doesn't want any more people in the clan, you'd be the last seat"  
"Seat?"  
"Yes" We have "three…cars and a modified ambulance, with you in the clan that fills every seat"

"Oh" Momo chimed again. Soifon sighed and shook her head as she pressed the elevator button. With a ping the doors opened again. By now Momo was used to the elevators motion though it still slightly unnerved her.

"So…" Momo said "who's your best friend here?"  
"Don't have one" Soifon said "I don't really like relying on people too much the only reason I'm in this clan is because it is mutually benefitting for both of us"

"Must be lonely" Momo said idly

"I don't get lonely" Soifon said indignantly though in her eyes she didn't quite seem to believe herself. That was the thing about this place, there was no one without a sad background so much pain and misery Momo was often surprised there was still a sane person out there. Though she'd lost everything the face she'd found people who seemed semi-decent made the pain less. She wondered if Soifon was so bristly because of Yoruichi or was there something else nipping at her, what was the bee in her bonnet?

"Any guys taking your fancy?"  
"Toshiro and Orihime were right…" Soifon muttered "you do ask a lot of questions"  
"Just trying to make conversation" Momo said as the lift pinged open.

"This is the car park a level above our hot springs. Normally this place is locked off by these gates." Soifon pointed at the metal gates at the far end of the car park. Only four vehicles were in the car park one was the brightly decorated ambulance that had profanity spray painted on it. Another was a heavy looking SUV and the last two were strange. "These two are Race Cars"  
"Race Cars?"  
"A while back people used to watch other people compete to see who had the best car and driving skill. The Yellow and blue one is a NASCAR and the black one is a BMW M5 LM I happen to drive that beauty myself" Soifon explained looking affectionately at the black and yellow car.

"So they are faster than normal cars?" Momo said remembering the sheer epic speed she'd see a car move at.

"A lot faster" Soifon grinned. Momo blanched, hopefully she wouldn't be taken for a ride in one of them soon…

***Change***

Hanataro picked a flower…maybe Soifon would like it. He sighed and tossed it away, if it didn't involve fighting and killing things Soifon probably wouldn't. He was out with Ichigo and Chad who'd disappeared off somewhere. Toshiro had put emphasis that they weren't to let Hanataro out of their sigh but Hanataro had a bad habit of wandering off when something grabbed his attention. They were currently foraging in Central Park. Hanataro decided to head toward the lake, despite being very acidic the lake provided very good sustenance for a specific herb that was very good for treating headaches.

He strolled out from behind a bush and jumped back when he noticed someone standing in front of the lake, a blonde female wearing a white jacket. She knelt beside the lake and scooped a handful of water. "What are you doing!?" Hanataro whispered. She lapped the water up and spat it out instantly; pulling a bottle of something from her bag she sprayed it into her mouth.  
"Is it any good!?" Someone exclaimed. Appearing from the bushes to his left a smaller black haired girl appeared.

"Nah" the blonde admitted "it's too acidic"

"What are these guys doing?" Hanataro wondered creeping a little closer.

"Just sit her down there" the black haired girl commanded pointing at the base of a tree. Two more girls appeared carrying a third. Altogether making five girls all of rather superior attractiveness. Hanataro noticed the girl they were carrying. She was sick! Her skin was pale and her eyes were half closed, patches of brown covered her pale skin. Hanataro's eyes widened slightly…Rubella! He'd have to get rid of it before she infected the whole city!

Making a move of uncharacteristic boldness he stepped from the bushes and said "Hi" Five pairs of eyes suddenly found him and made him freeze, this was such a bad idea!

"I-I-I see you need some help…" Hanataro stuttered as the commanding black haired girl stepped toward him. Now…this wasn't going to end well.

[End of Chapter 4]


	5. Chapter 5: The Misery

**I keep forgetting to state: this story is themed on 'The Genesis of Shannara' if anyone had read those books and thought this was familiar…you are correct. Also there will be themes from Heroes as well; powers and abilities and similar mythologies and what not. I know not much happens this chap but i'm setting up the plot; giving it a little gravity and setting. Not to mention some character development.**

Today…was gonna be a good day! Toshiro rather optimistically thought as his eyes opened in the dewy but sunny morning. There was stuff to do, he'd stuck it to Aizen and he didn't have to show Momo around. So you could imagine Toshiro's distress when this happened:

"So" Ichigo said peering around the door frame as Toshiro practiced this Ice ability of his, it was difficult but he was getting there!

"What's the problem?" Toshiro said touching the side of a glass of water. The water slowly started to freeze.

"Uh…"  
"What?"

"Could you stop using the ice for a minute" Ichigo replied. Toshiro should've known then that they were up shit creek but he remained oblivious right down to the last minute.

"Okay" He said crossing his arms

"Um… Hanataro sort of…"

"What!?" Toshiro demanded starting to get aggravated and worried

"He got kidnapped"

"WHAT!" Toshiro exclaimed "you were supposed to be looking after him!"

"We were we just got…side-tracked"  
"Doing what!"

"We saw…uh…a pretty bird" Ichigo hung his head in shame.

Kukaku poked her head in the doorframe above Ichigo; it looked like something out of a bizarre cartoon. "Um Toshiro…?" She said cautiously

"What!?"

"On a scale of one to ten just how pissed are you right now?"

"I'd say a solid eight and a half" Toshiro said

"Well prepare to get even more pissed" Kukaku said "'cause Hanataro is back and he ain't alone, five chicks and frankly Soifon looks about ready to murder them"

"Oh god, oh god why is this happening!" Toshiro pleaded to the ceiling before standing up and putting his best 'mean' face on that made Kukaku smirk. He stormed past them both with death in his eyes. Ever since Momo came here things were going from bad to worse, not that Momo was some kind of herald for impending doom but perhaps her arrival had set off some sort of chain reaction that was destined to leave his empire of ice in ruins.

Once he'd executed the elevator ride he strolled through the lobby where four of the five girls stood looking down at Orihime and Hanataro with the fifth. "Hanataro" Toshiro said. Hanataro paused with his treatment as his eyes widened. One of the girls, a black haired one with a rather arrogant face noticed this and looked at Toshiro over her shoulder. "He's helping our buddy so go away and play somewhere kiddo"

…Doom!

The room dropped to a harsh minus fifteen degrees. "Whoa, whoa, whoa" Hanataro said trying to calm Toshiro's raging fury. "This temperature will kill her!"

"So?" Toshiro snapped

"So…" The black haired girl snapped "turn it back or…" something wicked flashed across her eyes "I kill everyone!"

"You think you can take all of us!" Toshiro snapped back "whist you're guests in _my _clan headquarters you shut up and let _us _decide who we help"  
"But the kid already said he'd help us" said a blonde with a face that would be suited for someone who liked to shout.

"Hanataro?" Toshiro said

"Uh" Hanataro muttered "I couldn't just leave her to die"

"Fine… fine, fine" Toshiro said nursing his sore head "but you stay for a minute longer than you have to I'll get Soifon to do her impression of Sweeny Todd" he said indicating at the girl who nonchalantly shaved a leg with the blade of her katana. She looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"Hanataro" Orihime muttered "perhaps I should just heal her"  
"I can do it" Hanataro replied filling a syringe with…something.

"Hey if the ginger can do it just let her" the leader said

"But I can…" Hanataro trailed off when he realised he wasn't going to get support from anyone and for the briefest second Toshiro could've sworn he saw something dangerous sweep over his normally timid features. He also put his stuff back into his back much more forcefully than normal and even walked away without a word.  
"Nice, Orihime" Soifon said nodding at the confused girl. Toshiro shook his head and turned his back, where was Momo?

His question was answered much the same way a freight train would squish a pedestrian on the rails as Momo ran full force into the side of him. Both went sprawling. "Oh, ah Toshiro I-I saw something strange!" she paused and stared at the five girls who stared back at her. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Ishida who appeared

"What Momo declares is true" he said pushing his glasses up "there was a large explosion over on Yoruichi's turf"

"Get healing!" the blonde demanded

"Sorry" Orihime chuckled. Pushing her hands out the young ill girl became enwreathed in orange light.

Toshiro complained inwardly and went back up to his room. Soifon was there so Orihime would be safe…probably and he needed his aspirin, this ice was really giving him the migraines of the century.

Stepping into his room he turned his CD player on and lay down on his bed. Swallowing an Aspirin he stared spacily at the ceiling. "Um" came Momo's voice from the door. Damn she was fast!

"What's wrong now?" Toshiro said continuing to stare at the ceiling

"I was wondering what you want me to make for dinner"  
"Surprise us" Toshiro said

"So glum" Momo muttered "what are you listening to?"

Toshiro continued to stare at the ceiling for a few seconds before replying "Pink Floyd, this band is nearly a hundred years old"

"Oh"

"This particular song is called Wish you were here, it was written about a member of the band who left, he was called Syd Barret, and he was revered by many as the creative influence behind Pink Floyd"

"So you listen to a lot of this stuff?" Momo asked. He glanced at her, she ran her finger along the album covers. He bit his lip as she read the titles, the soft kissable skin of her neck showing due to low cut nature of the t-shirt she was wearing. He just wanted to come up behind her put his hands on her hips and kiss that soft skin and see how loud he could make her moan.

"Pretty much" he said after a few more seconds of lechery "that bottom pile are albums I dislike, you can have them if you want"

"Hmm" Momo muttered picking up a few "Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z (She said it like jay-zed), Chris Brown"

"Yeah" Toshiro said "I don't understand their music"

"What do you mean?"  
"When someone makes a song….it's a form of art say what you want about the standards of it it's still a work of art, anyway usually they tell stories, stories of love, loss, pain, happiness, friendship and sometimes skinning their ex-girlfriends and feeding them to dogs but those albums…do not, they are just…noise"

"Oh" Momo said

"You're brilliant you know that?" Toshiro chuckled jadedly

"How so?" Momo asked her cheeks gaining pinpricks of redness

"You ask so many questions and when you get answers you only reply with 'oh' or um'"

"Sorry" Momo said "I've never really spoke to people as much as I have, I feel conversation would dry up if I didn't ask questions"

"Don't get me wrong" Toshiro said "having a new face around is fun but don't pester some people too much, there are a lot of open wounds here and Soifon has already complained that you're prying on raw flesh"

"Should I say sorry?"

"No" Toshiro replied "she doesn't deserve an apology she's just being childish"

"Didn't you say you were going to decorate my room yesterday?" Momo asked

"I did didn't I?" Toshiro said not moving "c'mon then" he said eventually moving, he sat up and watched Momo walk out of the room, of course his hormone filled brain honed in on her cute behind that he frankly just wanted to grab and squeeze. He rubbed his eyes and smiled, only slightly; maybe there will be a ray of sunshine in this cloudy sky. As per usual, when he thought optimistic thoughts his old memories came flooding back, he couldn't take Momo's hand even if she wanted it…he couldn't bear losing another lover. Momo was just so beautiful and fragile like porcelain someday he just knew he'll be dragging her bloody corpse out of a Rouge hideout.

Back on the ground floor Toshiro was confronted with an awkward looking leader girl…he still didn't know her name. "So" she said "I guess we owe you a bit of an apology and…Jesus" she scoffed. The blonde stamped on her foot "so sorry, goddammit, Candice I'll kick your ass"  
"So I guess we owe you guys a favour" 'Candice' the blonde said

"Hmm" Toshiro wondered "you're not local correct?"

"Nope" the black haired girl said "We are sorta like…mercenaries, if there a weak clan getting ruffed up we accept payment, food, water , clothes" she smirked "a good time" this earned a scoff from Toshiro "to go and waste the enemy clan"

"That's a little barbaric" Toshiro said  
"Dystopian society, retard" she said

"Anyway do you do…recon?"

"Recon?" She said cocking an eyebrow

"Yes there happens to be a man I dislike"  
"We all got one of those…Bach mustachio twat!" she muttered

"What Bambietta was trying to say is who, what, where?" Candice cut in

"The man is Sosuke Aizen

"No!" Bambietta snapped "We'll have nothing to do with that man thank you very much"  
"Do you know him?"  
"…no" Bambietta said sarcastically "I just said I didn't want anything to do with him because I didn't like the sound of his name"  
"I hate you" Toshiro said flatly

"We've got a few people we'd rather avoid on our journeys" said a second black haired girl who despite being softer spoken than Bambietta she seemed to have serious shady vibes about her, Toshiro didn't like her at all "Aizen happens to be one of them"  
"We'll be staying in the city for a few weeks anyway" Bambietta said "We'll keep our eyes open…but no promises"

"Just dig around and we'll help you more if you need it, scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" Toshiro said hoping these bitches would go away already.

"…yeah" Bambietta said after a minute of staring blankly at Toshiro "anyways" she said "thanks for taking care of Meninas" she turned to follower her friends out but stopped and looked back at him. "I've actually been making a metal note of all the people with powers I've met are there any others besides that temporal manipulation?"  
"Temporal Manipulation?" Toshiro said

"Huh?" Bambietta said "you don't actually know how powerful she is do you?"

"I don't understand" Toshiro said

"She doesn't simply heal people; she reverses their body back to the time before it was injured"

"…oh" Toshiro said "I never knew that and why are you making a note of all the powers you see?"  
"I…uh" Bambietta scratched the back of her head "I've noticed the amount of people with abilities are increasing immensely, I used to be the only person in my group with a power and now everyone can do something"  
"Well I've recently discovered I had the ability to control temperature, I think, I can only make it go really cold right now"

"Hmm" Bambietta mumbled "I can generate explosions…kaboom!" she said splaying her hand for dramatic effect.

"I see" Toshiro said "Besides me and Orihime there is no one with powers…unless you count Ganju's goofy sand thing"

"Sand thing?"  
"Yeah he can turn inanimate objects into sand" Toshiro said "now if you don't mind I have to finish inducting my newest member"

"We'll get out of your spiffy looking hair then" Bambietta mumbled turning her back, she waved over her shoulder "stay safe brother"

"So" Toshiro said turning to Momo "what's your favourite colour then?"

"Um…" Momo thought deeply "a variant of red probably, maybe pink or purple"

"Matsumoto would you help Momo pick her decorations and I guess I need a new lamp so I'm coming" Toshiro said to the busty woman who was currently being a fly on the wall with Chad and Soifon.

"Hell yeah" Matsumoto said before flipping the bird at Soifon "see I am the clans stylist bitch!"

"Would you like to be burned alive or asphyxiated?"

"Settle down" Toshiro said "Soifon you'd best look after the joint whist Ichigo goes out on a hunt"  
"Aw man" Ichigo muttered before walking away.

They left the building and made their way toward the Ikea that only they knew about as the entire area of the city it rested in had fell into some kind of cavern, the superstore had strangely landed completely unharmed at the bottom of the hundred foot drop and was covered in muck and mud, from the top no one would notice it, it was perfect!

***Change***

Soifon sat by the window and watched Momo, Toshiro and Matsumoto walk away. She sighed there was so much ruckus going on these days she couldn't have a minute to herself! She knew deep in her heart she was a lone wolf, she didn't like company but she owed Toshiro far too much to just flat out abandon the clan, she'd repay her debt somehow and then go on her way, she'd travel west maybe.

Leaning on the window frame she considered her life here, no one liked her, no one thanked her and most certainly no one included her hadn't Toshiro considered she wanted to go shopping too!? That was the price she paid for being staunchy and unyielding, was that why Yoruichi abandoned her? Was she destined to be the bitch that no one liked? She knew it was partially her own fault; she didn't really give anyone any reason to like her but… She scoffed and shook her head before rubbing her sore eyes, she'd missed out on a lot of sleep last night because of Toshiro and his stupid ice, the asshole plummeted the temperature six times last night! He really couldn't control it when he was asleep.

There was a small noise behind her, she knew who it was and didn't even turn. "Finished sulking?" Soifon said

"Not really" Hanataro said "you seem to be doing much the same" he added. Soifon noticed that when Hanataro was alone with her he didn't stammer it was very strange.

She turned and faced Hanataro; he quickly averted his eyes from her and stared at the ground. "Where did you find those girls anyway?" Soifon said

"I found them by the lake in CP"

"Oh" Soifon mumbled "didn't you think they might've been dangerous, why did you just abandon everything to help them?"  
"Why not?" Hanataro said

"Is it because you feel inadequate?" Soifon said

"I don't feel…"  
"You can't lie to me" Soifon said "I know it makes you feel like shit when people go to Orihime for treatment rather than you, after all you can't heal people" There it was again, that jealousy flashing across his face. She knew how it felt to be miles out of someone's league, stuck to always follow and never overtake.

"It's…not my place to try and hog the attention, if Orihime can do it I'll let her"  
"But you're a healer too" Soifon said

"Not really" Hanataro said looking down at the ground again "I'm just the kid that gets molested and raped"  
"Don't be such a pansy then" Soifon snapped

"What'd you have me do?" Hanataro chuckled "become the supreme dealer of death, killing or threatening to kill everyone who wrongs me?"  
"C'mon" Soifon said "you have great potential, you're flexible and alert and you have the will power and determination not to mention a _reason_ to become a fighter for the clan"  
"A reason, because I'm essentially useless?"  
"You know what they say" Soifon said "Wounded is the deer that leaps highest"

"Have you ever wanted to run away?" Hanataro asked

"No" Soifon lied

"I've always wanted to leave but I didn't want to go alone, I hate it here, all the other clans know I'm the weak link"

"I know" Soifon said "why do you think I'm so brutal with everyone who…wrongs you" this was a lie; she was brutal because she felt she and Hanataro were kindred, two peas in one hella fucked up pod.

"Nevertheless" Hanataro said "one of the girls dropped this"

"What is it?" Soifon said taking the piece of paper.

"It's a list of some kind"

Soifon inspected the sloppily written paper:

_Candice! What we need to find someone with the ability to manipulate sound or at least generate shockwaves of some kind, Juha Bach still has a bulls eye on our backs and I've got a feeling shockwaves might just work so you'll have to ditch the Vandenriech for now and come travelling with me we also need these things if you can find them:_

_-Uranium _

_-Graphite _

_-Gold wire _

_The other stuff we'll get when we're in New York then we'll send Bach and Aizen skyward if the shockwave theory doesn't fit_

"I'm not sure what to think about this one" Soifon said reading over it again

"What do you think they are planning?"  
"Whatever it is" Soifon said "It isn't something I wanna get dragged into that's for sure"

[End of chapter 05]

**If anyone got what song the line 'Wounded is the deer that leaps highest' is from then….you are god!**


End file.
